Documentary sheds light on good side of Camden through little league team

View full sizeNorth Camden Little League baseball players play at Pyne Poynt Park in North Camden — a place where junkies openly shoot heroin, straddled by the 6th and 7th street corridors known as Heroin Highway. The documentary, called 'Pyne Poynt' follows one family — the Reyes family — who lost five relatives to Camden's violence.Photo by Gabe Dinsmoor

When Steven Patrick Ercolani first approached North Camden Little League president Bryan Morton to film a documentary, his response was poignant and somewhat telling.

“He said, ‘It’s alright. Just don’t Brian Williams me,’” said Ercolani, originally from Haddonfield. “You know what he means, they do a 10-minute piece. They take a tour around Camden and visit four or five places and say ‘Look how terrible this is.’ That’s what he was talking about.”

Morton wanted Ercolani to tell a different story about the most dangerous city in America, one in which “really good people” work to do something good for the city’s children.

Morton, a reformed ex-con, heads up the little league baseball team, Ercolani said. He came out of prison wanting to help get these kids get off the streets. He didn’t want them to end up like him.

“He’s a reformed sinner and there’s nothing more American than that,” Ercolani said.

The kids play baseball at Pyne Poynt Park in North Camden — a place where junkies openly shoot heroin, straddled by the 6th and 7th street corridors known as Heroin Highway. The documentary follows one family — the Reyes family — who lost five relatives to Camden’s violence.

Joey, who plays in the 16- to 18-year-old league, has become the head of his family after the death of his brother and four other family members. He takes care of his grandmother and many cousins.

View full size'Pyne Poynt,' about the North Camden Little League, follows one family's struggles in the violent city of Camden.Photo by Gabe Dinsmoor

“Joey’s brother was shot last year in drug violence,” Ercolani said.

Cameraman Gabe Dinsmoor first met Ercolani when they were both interning at a small English-language newspaper in Costa Rico together. They kept in touch, and when Ercolani told him about his idea for a documentary, Dinsmoor wanted to be a part of it.

“The story sounded amazing and I wanted to learn more about it,” he said. “I came out and met some of the coaches and thought they were doing a great thing for the community.”

The pair was well aware of “that same old story told over and over again” about the ailing city of Camden.

“It dominates the headlines ... and we wanted to do something different,” Dinsmoor said.

But doing something unfamiliar still takes money. And both young men, only in their mid-20s, wanted to do this documentary right. So in order to do that, they enlisted the aid of Kickstarter — a website that helps raise money for creative projects like this — with a sizable goal to reach.

“We want to continue this project at the same pace and clip as we have been,” Ercolani said.

The goal: $15,000, will help the pair “get a sound man, a lighting man and a larger crew out here” to finish the project.

“We need the support to do the project the right way,” Dinsmoor said. “It’s all me right now shooting. Basically it’s a very small team at the moment and it’s pretty daunting.”

Ercolani and Dinsmoor have 11 days left to reach their goal, and they’re both staying optimistic. They’d like “Pyne Poynt” to be a feature-length documentary, but without the funds, that could become very difficult.

If they don’t reach their goal by July 17 — right now they have $5,000 — all of the money previously donated has to be given back. But that’s a chance the pair was willing to take. Other aid-funding sites, such as Indiegogo, lets artists keep whatever was donated, but Ercolani thought the weight and reputation of Kickstarter would encourage people to contribute to their cause.

“We needed the Kickstarter name. But it is nerve-wracking right now,” Ercolani said.

Ultimately, the pair wants the story of the Reyes family, Morton and all of the little league coaches and players in the North Camden league, to be heard.

“Just getting to know the kids and their families and getting to know the community on that personal level has been amazing,” Dinsmoor said.

According to the Kickstarter summary, “‘Pyne Poynt’ is about more than the power of sports to help children rise above poverty. It’s a documentary about life and death on one small, grassless oasis in America where the chances of success aren’t good but where the phrase “hitting it out of the park” takes on a new meaning.

“If it wasn’t for this league, these kids would probably be killed,” Ercolani said.